Shanfield's is an eyesore...it's great that they've been able to survive so long as a local business but they never invested into improving the appearance of the store.

Only part of the plaza burned down - Ming Wah and Value Village are fine. I've always wondered what the story is with the silo in front of that plaza.

The silo was for something else origionally when the plaza first opened. I can't remember specifically but maybe it had a logo for the plaza. Eventually when Scotia Bank moved in they plunked their logo on the thing.

Last month, Bubi’s Awesome Eats was featured on the Food Network’s You Gotta Eat Here with John Catucci.

You Gotta Eat Here, which filmed it’s Windsor segments last spring, is a half-hour television series that sends comedian and food-obsessed host John Catucci on a quest for Canada’s most delicious, mouth-watering, over-the-top comfort food.

Catucci has visited great joints, greasy spoons, and legendary restaurants to taste the food that made them famous and to meet the colourful characters that make these restaurants possible. John dives into the kitchens to find out what makes these signature recipes so darn good!

If you missed it, you can now watch the video online above or check it out on Bubis’ YouTube, here.

Windsor Raceway officials announced the track will likely close entirely Aug. 31.

"Despite OLG reports, at this time no arrangement is in place to facilitate any continued horse racing operations at the Windsor Raceway and particularly not through March 31, 2013," officials wrote in a media release Friday.

The OLG announced in March it would continue to provide the horse racing industry a share of slot revenue until March 31, 2013. Windsor Raceway officials, however, have not agreed to terms of that proposed transitional agreement.

Instead, the two sides came to an "interim access agreement" Monday to allow OLG to remove slot machines from the raceway by Aug. 31. During the decommishing and removal of the slots, the OLG will continue to provide a share of slot reveune to the raceway, which it will share with the horse people.

"That agreement only brings us to Aug. 31," Soulliere said. "Unless we come to an agreement to continue this funding to March 2013, we’ll close."

Windsor Raceway told OLG it wants to submit all outstanding issues to mediation, including the conditions the OLG insists upon to provide any continued funding for horse racing. The OLG has refused mediation, according to Soulliere.

OLG confirmed Friday it was only made aware of the raceway's intentions when it read the track's news release

The track's viability was thrown into question by the province's decision to remove slot machines and end gaming revenue sharing with the harness racing industry.

In what may have been a moment of foreshdowing Thursday in the Legislature, Liberal Finance Minister and Windsor Tecumseh MPP Dwight Duncan said "this week we had to close racetracks that cost jobs in my riding."

On April 26, Duncan said, "I'm advised that five possibly six tracks will survive."

Several in the horse racing industry have said for months the end of the slots-for-horses program would kill the industry and cost the province 65,000 jobs tied either directly or indirectly to horse racing.

Duncan has said on several occasions his government would "choose health care over horse racing."

Friday's announcement came on the day members of the local horse industry are to meet with Windsor West MPP Teresa Piruzza to discuss how the government can help maintain the local industry.

Brian Tropea, the general manager of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, was not originally going to join in the conversation in Windsor. However, he is now en route to the city.

“We’re not interested in transitioning to other jobs. We’re interested in saving the investment we have in horse racing," Tropea said.

I'm really starting to worry about the Barn market development. I haven't heard anything in quite a while, and am starting to think that it just may not happen now. The last I heard, they were trying to work out parking, with the developers wanting some or all of Water World's parking lot. Anyone have any other info on this?

I'm really starting to worry about the Barn market development. I haven't heard anything in quite a while, and am starting to think that it just may not happen now. The last I heard, they were trying to work out parking, with the developers wanting some or all of Water World's parking lot. Anyone have any other info on this?

I have heard nothing about the Barn since the last Windsor Star article. I know there were some roller derby skates there in May and supposedly that was the last event held at the Barn. It's a mystery to me..

I do know that the same development group, The King Group is doing lots of work at Windsor Ice Park which they aquired after the Barn.

Who knows? I would like to know something though. The Barn Windsor City Market webpage is still up but they took the forums down after the first month or so.

I had actually emailed councillor Jo-Anne Gignac twice, the mayor once and the head of the Riverside BIA a few times complaining about the huge amounts of graffiti. Something has to be done it's out of hand. It has to be the same groups of people who keep tagging the words THC and PURE everywhere, and I mean everywhere. They do it in spray paint and in marker, it's like they're always ready at all hours to tag. I had even asked if we could have an increased police presence in the area.

Symz, I was in Riverside a few days ago and I noticed the enitre business district is now graffiti-free, including that variety store we talked about. Good job!

Thanks! I noticed today The Running Factory had covered up it's graffiti finally. With the new Eye On Video opening up the old Shoppers Drug Mart is also graffiti free. For once it feels like complaining has netted results and I'm glad I could be a part of that.

The annual fireworks show which has drawn millions of spectators to the riverfront for more than 50 years may be a luxury cash-strapped Detroit can no longer afford.

The Detroit River fireworks show will take place this year, but its fate is uncertain as the City of Detroit teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.

“This is where we are right now,” Naomi Patton, press secretary for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, said Monday. “That’s all we can say.”

Target Corp. sponsors the annual show — now in its 54th year — paying about $1 million annually for the fireworks. But the City of Detroit spends up to $700,000 each year to cover police and traffic control costs for the signature event.

The city’s recently approved budget starts July 1 and reduces spending by $250 million and cuts more than 2,500 jobs throughout every department.

Michigan’s state government is threatening a financial takeover of Detroit, while Bing is warning the city could run out of money by the end of this week. Bing released a statement late last week vowing this year’s fireworks display will happen as planned on Monday, June 25, despite the city’s financial crisis.

Some last-minute support from neighbouring police forces was secured — commitments made during the recent Mackinac Island economic conference — saving this year’s show, he said.

“After assessing the considerable public safety costs ... we have reached out to and received the support of the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Sheriff’s offices and the Michigan State Police to help ensure that this year’s fireworks display would go on as scheduled,” Bing said in a statement.

“However, future Detroit-based events that attract and entertain millions from throughout southeast Michigan are being carefully reviewed.

As the city moves forward, operating within the constraints of the city’s 2012-13 (budget), it is no longer feasible to have these events funded primarily by Detroit taxpayers.”

On this side of the border, those connected to the fireworks display worry the show could fall by the wayside.

“This is so incredibly sad that a city like Detroit, which has already lost so much, could also lose (the fireworks),” said Maggie Durocher, executive director of the Windsor Parade Corp. which oversees Summer Fest, the Canada Day parade and the fireworks event.

“It’s part of our history. It’s a major event in Windsor. It’s a rite of passage for everyone heading into the summer. To lose that would be catastrophic.”

The parade corporation hosts a private riverfront party on fireworks night that features a steak dinner, wine tasting and entertainment. It is one of the organization’s primary revenue generators — this year’s tickets cost $100 per person — and helps support all Canada Day and Santa Claus parades across Windsor and Essex County.

“This could have serious repercussions for us,” Durocher said.

She also noted there would be consequences for several downtown hotels and business owners if the fireworks event is not held in future years.

Nearly a million people flock to the riverfront on both sides of the border each year to watch the fireworks show, which began in 1958 under the former Freedom Festival, an annual birthday celebration of Canada (July 1) and the U.S. (July 4).

“The riverbanks on both sides are filled and our hotels enjoy healthy occupancy because of the fireworks,” said Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. “We really see a lot of activity in the downtown core as the day progresses. It’s definitely an asset to our tourism industry because of its size and scope.

“It’s been such a celebrated tradition for so long it really would be a shame for our residents and visitors if it’s not continued. It would be a terrible loss to our summer festival season and those who celebrate it as an annual family tradition. Hopefully, the City of Detroit see themselves get out of their economic woes.”

The City of Windsor spends about $250,000 for police, fire and traffic control costs for fireworks night, said Mayor Eddie Francis.

Francis said he was in recent contact with Detroit’s parade company — which helps oversee fireworks planning — and noted that organization has so far been able to weather the economic downturn and keep the event going.

“I’m not told anything by them,” Francis said. “I’m not sure what the plans are for the future, but I expect to have a discussion with them sometime later in the summer.”

The fate of the annual fireworks show was threatened once before when longtime sponsor Hudson’s withdrew its support in the late 1990s with a change in ownership. It was saved when Target stepped in.

Officials with Target’s head office in Minneapolis, Minn., did not respond to messages Monday from The Star.

Aside from any local financial impact, to lose the annual fireworks event would deal an even bigger blow to morale in this region, Durocher said.

“It’s awe-inspiring for everybody when you are standing there and just watching things going off,” she said. “It’s something everybody looks forward to and to lose that would be horrendously sad.”

WINDSOR, Ont. -- The Red Bull Air Race, one of the most exciting, dangerous and biggest crowd-drawing events in sports, is expected to end its two-year hiatus in 2013 — and Windsor’s mayor wants to make sure his city gets to play host again and bask in the international limelight.

“We’re in preliminary discussions,” said Eddie Francis. He said that’s all he could divulge, and Red Bull couldn’t

be reached for comment on Tuesday.

From a modest start in 2003, the Red Bull Air Race — in which daredevil pilots pull impossible G-forces performing tight, high-speed aerobatic manoeuvres through towering inflatable “air gates” — grew to a global circuit drawing millions of spectators in some of the world’s most glamorous cities.

Windsor co-hosted with Detroit in 2009 and then flew solo as host in 2010, with the province committing to a two-year, $10-million Windsor sponsorship for the “Formula 1 of the sky.”

Organizers estimate up to a billion race fans tuned in to follow the 2010 action over the Detroit River.

Red Bull is just one of a slew of signature events Windsor is hoping to pursue and use as springboards to luring droves of “sports tourists,” and city council Monday night approved a $300,000 budget towards that effort.

Later this month, for example, a Windsor delegation is Switzerland-bound to join the bidding for the 2016 or 2018 Short Course Worlds, a five-day meet of FINA, the international swim federation.

“It’s huge, with competitors from all over the world,” Francis said of the five-day event, hosted this year by Istanbul, Turkey.

“I expect more events related to swimming,” he added.

Windsor also wants to play a role in the upcoming Winter Classic outdoor hockey gathering that will see the Red Wings and Maple Leafs compete Jan. 1, 2013, at what is anticipated to be the biggest outdoor hockey matchup in history. The Windsor Spitfires will also be part of the multi-day event, which Francis said should draw “thousands and thousands of people” to the area.

Francis wants Windsor to “have more of a prominent role” in next year’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix, and efforts are underway to prepare a Windsor bid to host the 2014 Memorial Cup.

He said one way Windsor plans to cash in on big events just across the border is organizing “hassle-free” packages for visitors through air and rail, with Transit Windsor deployed to shuttle sports fans from local hotels across the border.

But at a time when city council is committing hundreds of thousands of dollars to draw outside visitors, the latest marketing campaign by the province completely ignores the Windsor area.

“This is my Ontario,” sings the voice in a slick and upbeat TV commercial being deployed by the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership to draw foreign travellers to the province. A dozen different locations and attractions are shown, but there’s nothing of anything south of Toronto or Niagara Falls.

“It stung when I saw the commercial at home — when I didn’t see us, obviously there’s disappointment,” said Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island.

While “every destination, ourselves included, would have loved to be included,” Orr said he realizes that isn’t possible and that the idea is to “sell the viewer on Ontario as a destination.”

But MPP Teresa Piruzza (L — Windsor West) defends the TV spots, saying last year’s campaign focused on Pelee Island. And the Discover Ontario TV commercial is “just one small part ... of a bigger strategy,” she said.

There’s a magazine and website and other campaigns that highlight destinations across the province, “and Windsor Essex is certainly a part of all that.”

Orr acknowledges the TV spots are “just one marketing tool,” but he hopes to push his region more forcefully after being appointed this month to a two-year term on an Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership’s advisory committee.

On Monday night, city council also agreed to donate $10,000 to the financially struggling Detroit Parade Company for next week’s fireworks night, the future of which Detroit Dave Bing recently hinted could be in jeopardy due to his city’s poor fiscal situation.

Francis said that security on fireworks night (June 25) on this side of the border costs between $250,000 and $300,000 but that it’s “absolutely” worth it given the huge numbers of visitors it attracts.

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Several potential development deals involving both private companies and other levels of government are the reason the City of Windsor is looking at building a new city hall, Mayor Eddie Francis says.

Which companies? Which government agencies? No one is saying — but the potential deals are out there and could lead to a new civic icon in the heart of the downtown estimated to cost $37 million or more.

Because of confidentiality agreements, silent city councillors didn’t ask a single question this week as they unanimously approved a $150,000 study to determine if there is a business case for building a new city hall.

The money for the study was carved out of the city’s capital spending budget, which was approved Monday after only a few hours of debate.

Francis says council was so quiet about what normally would be a really big deal — for most communities, the building of a new city hall usually comes around only once every half century, or even less often — because there’s nothing to talk about yet.

“There’s nothing to question until there’s a business report,” Francis said Wednesday.

The report won’t be ready for “three to four months.” By then some of the potential deals may start edging into the open. But council isn’t going to start talking about them until the proponents are ready, he said.

If the deals pan out Windsor may find itself building a new city hall; if they don’t materialize, there won’t be one — it’s that simple, the mayor said with his characteristic shrug.

“We will never recommend a project unless we can afford it,” he said, speaking on behalf of council. “Everything we do has a solid business plan and does not cause incremental tax increases.”

Are the chances of a new city hall 50-50? “Yeah, I’d say that. But if we could squeeze another five years out of this building, I’d prefer that. I don’t really want to build a new city hall.”

Francis said he did not want to identify the private sector companies whose needs for office space in the core may lead to a space shortage in the downtown, possibly tipping over some real estate dominoes.

Nor would he identify which government agencies or quasi-government groups might be looking for space. But they involve both the federal and provincial levels, he hinted.

Construction of the 400 Building on City Hall Square in 2002 came about the same way, Francis points out, when federal employment groups, provincial welfare agencies and the city’s own social services department all started looking for new space at the same time.

The city ended up spending $32 million on the 400 Building, which has 160,000 square feet on four floors.

Windsor could have had brand new space to house City Hall staff back then had council agreed to spend only $5.4 million extra to add two extra floors to the 400 structure. That would have provided enough space to replace the existing city hall “dirt cheap.”

Instead the project — although successful, well built, and well received as an architecturally dignified addition to the downtown — led to a bitter years-long fight over cost audits that ultimately found nothing wrong.

But the controversy has left most councillors gun shy of replacing city hall, which is structurally sound but small- town ugly, outdated, and riddled with failing mechanical systems, according to a report to council.

The potential site of a new city hall is part of the business study. The municipality owns sufficient space for another building directly south of the current structure, where a courthouse and the former police headquarters once stood.

How big would it be? That depends on if and how the potential deals come together, Francis said. Five storeys? Ten? “Depending on the consolidated space needs ... it might be large.”

A large office building with varied tenants, sponsored by the city, would raise questions about Windsor unwisely building a “Canderel Two,” I told the mayor. That office project, housing the headquarters of Chrysler Canada, remains one of the city’s biggest financial failures.

Canderel cost taxpayers at least $50 million in expropriation costs, lease obligations and wasted management time which will never be recouped. A previous mayor and a previous council approved it during the 1990s.

“How long is it going to take us to get past that?” an exasperated Francis fumed at the question. “When we built the WFCU, people said taxes would go up. They didn’t for four or five years in a row.

“Now that we’re building the aquatic centre people are saying, ’You watch, taxes are going to go up.’ No they won’t.” In fact the aquatic centre will save millions in operating costs compared to the four antiquated recreation facilities it will replace, he said.

Francis points to $624 million in civic capital projects approved and managed by the current council over the past six years which have all come in on time and under budget, without mishap and without new debt.

The $70-million aquatic centre will be paid off in 2015 out of the city’s annual cash flow rather than issued debt. The $71-million WFCU Centre is paid off, as is the new $41 million Huron Lodge.

The City of Windsor is a rare municipality in that it finances major projects on a “pay-as-you-go” cash basis that city treasurer Onorio Colucci says saves taxpayers $30 million per year in interest payments on bonds.

“That’s a direct result of our fiscal discipline,” the mayor says — both council’s, and administration’s. “We’re spending within our means, and delivering on all our promises.”

“We paid off the Canderel project 10 years ahead of schedule. Think about that; that’s huge. Ten years ahead of schedule. I thought we’d have a huge mortgage-burning ceremony. But people seem to think that’s normal now.”